Je suis Marxiste, tendance Groucho

I posted nothing about it before it happened and I don’t plan to post much now, except to say I found the outcome hilarious.

Now, voting was quite easy for me this time round; I live in an SNP/LibDem marginal so my choice was clear: LibDem. I don’t especially like the LibDems, but there was a greater imperative at work.

For most of my life I’ve voted Labour; any exceptions to that have always been tactical. But I’m not interested in voting Labour while Jeremy Corbin and his cabal of Wolfie Smith wannabes is in charge. A tip of the hat to him, he did a lot better than many, including me, expected. But he still lost to the most inept Tory leader since Ian Duncan Smith, despite the Tory campaign imploding spectacularly.

Last July I posted about Theresa May; I said I didn’t like her but she was the least worst of those available and so I had my fingers crossed. I thought she, or the Tories at least, would be in office until 2025 or so with a very substantial majority. That last looks questionable now, but with a potential second General Election this year it may yet happen. Given her manifest unsuitability for the job, I doubt Mrs. May can survive in office, and I doubt a minority government sustained by the confidence and supply support of the DUP is stable. On the other hand, with Article 50 triggered, the last thing the Tories need is another leadership election, especially given the paucity of obvious successors.

Mrs. May clings to office in large part because of the performance of the Tories in Scotland under Ruth Davidson (who is unhappy about that DUP link). Add that to Labour gaining seats in Scotland, and the dreams of the SNP are on a shoogly peg. At least in public, the SNP can not admit this is because the majority of the electorate do not want another indy. referendum since independence is the SNP’s sole purpose. Given their mediocre performance in government, their general fitness for office is now in doubt too.

Oddly, I find the absurdity of the situation grounds for optimism as well as laughter: the make up of the House of Commons is such that no party will succeed in pushing an ideological position because no part has the support to carry it through. Maybe, just maybe, that means a period during which compromise positions will necessarily carry the day; proving, perhaps, that Nemesis has a sense of humour.